BRNO ZB-26

This is the design that became one of the single most widely-used light machine guns ever devised, and also one of the absolute best. It is certainly one of the most enduring as well, since the British and several other countries continued to employ the same basic design chambered for 7.62x51mm NATO (.308 Win).

The ZB-26 and its brother the ZB-30 proved to be such a superior design that travelling British armament representatives quickly concluded these guns were far superior to anything comparable under development in England and arranged to have several shipped home for research and development purposes. The result was the world famous BREN gun, which is still in use today!

These guns were so well-made (and were also conveniently in 8mm Mauser to begin with) the forces of Nazi Germany used them extensively during their occupation of Europe. Many of these guns, all of which were extremely well made, soldiered on in the armies of post-war Europe for decades after the close of WWII. These can in fact be encountered virtually anywhere especially in European conflicts past and present.